Remember The Titans star Ethan Suplee has achieved a remarkable weight loss of over 200 pounds and successfully maintained it.
The actor, 48 — also known for starring in blockbusters like American History X, The Wolf of Wall Street, and the series My Name Is Earl — weighed more than 500 pounds at the age of 24.
Not long after appearing in My Name is Earl from 2005 to 2009, he began losing weight — and by the time he appeared on the red carpet to promote the film Unstoppable in 2010, he had dropped more than 200 lbs.
The actor has abandoned traditional diets, opting for a fitness regimen centered around strength training and a balanced diet that focuses on whole foods.
He has been keeping fans updated with progress photos on his Instagram profile, and earlier this week showed off his abs in an interview with Men’s Health.
‘I’m at my absolute pinnacle,’ told the publication about the shirtless photos in the feature. ‘I spent 35, 40 years without taking my shirt off in public.’
He added that the photos were not retouched: ‘The shadows haven’t been enhanced. There’s loose skin. There are scars. This is who I am.’
Last year, Suplee achieved another fitness milestone by reaching nine percent body fat.
He credits his abs to weeks of carefully adjusting his carbohydrate and sodium intake with the help of his trainer, Jared Feather.
He shared: ‘I was wondering if we could go further—eight percent or seven percent body fat.’
‘But then I thought about all the wacky diets I’ve done over the years and realized that I can’t keep doing this. Do I want to want to walk around looking like I look in those pictures? Honestly, I’m not sure I have what it takes.’
Suplee shared that he is now trying to be happy in his ‘maintenance period’, though his instinct for a long time had been to continue with his weight loss.
He also highlights the importance of knowledge and education in achieving and maintaining weight loss.
‘I used to think that losing weight was all about willpower, but that’s not entirely true,’ he shared. ‘If you don’t have useful information, what are you going to impose your will on?’
Suplee now prioritizes enjoying life and cultivating a positive relationship with food, telling Men’s Health that he recently got McDonald’s French fries with his 15-year-old daughter, who had never tried them before.
The actor recently shared a before an after to his Instagram as inspiration to keep going in 2025.
‘If you’re six days in and fatigued, keep going, life requires effort. If it’s day one for you, welcome, no excuse should bar you from taking your first step. It does get easier; it never gets easy. That’s life,’ he wrote.’
Last year he went shirtless as he stripped off to reveal his toned torso while flexing his arm muscles and posing for a mirror selfie.
Alongside the image from a recent trip to Italy, Ethan shared an old photo of himself before embarking on his new healthy lifestyle.
Ethan was praised by his followers, who told him in the comments section that they were ‘inspired’ by his body transformation updates.
Ethan, who played Randy on the NBC show My Name Is Earl, captioned the post: ‘I am aware of change as much as I am aware of the sun rising and setting.’
‘What shapes how we change? Is it some divine force, our environment, the chemistry within the meat sacks we use to navigate this mortal plane?
‘The only constant in life is change.’ – Heraclitus
‘Change is guaranteed, whether active or passive is up to me.’
Earlier last year, while reflecting on his dramatic transformation and current mindset, Ethan shared a throwback image of him from the 2001 film Blow, at his heaviest, and a recent gym picture, which showcased his muscular physique.
‘Once upon a time, the whole world was an impossibility. Conquering all of it is still impossible, so I’m just concentrating on today,’ he captioned the slideshow.
He continued: ‘If today becomes too much, I will focus on right now. Right now, I’m ok, I will beat right now.’
In the second image, the father-of-four could be seen in the middle of a workout as his ‘Symbol of Chaos’ tattoo peeked slightly out under the left sleeve of his T-shirt.
The performer once again received praise in the comment section from fans calling him a legend and marvelling over his progress.
In a 2020 essay for Men’s Health, Ethan discussed his history with diet culture, and how he lived in a cycle of yo-yo dieting.
He said: ‘I now understand that early on in my life, I developed a bunch of bad habits. These habits basically broke my body’s ability to tell me when to stop eating.
‘Diets told me I was defective—and yo-yo dieting is the worst sort of hell. It is chasing a goal that disappears immediately once achieved.’
‘The most important thing I would want anyone to take away is that for me, the biggest change was understanding how food works. And the more I feel that I understand, scientifically, the more power I have over it.’
Ethan first earned success in the ’90s and early noughties for roles as bully flunky Frankie Stechino in Boy Meets World, lovable dimwit Randy Hickey in My Name Is Earl and new teammate Louie Lastik in Remember the Titans.
‘After My Name Is Earl, I started obsessively riding bicycles,’ he told EW in 2017. ‘I actually did get properly thin at one point — I was nine percent body fat. But I was also riding a bicycle six to eight hours a day, six days.
‘After two years of that, my wife said, ‘Hey, idiot, you can’t retire and ride bicycles. You have to go get a job.”
Unfortunately, when he tried to get back to work, casting directors didn’t recognize him, and he had trouble booking gigs.
He then put back on some weight — and started bulking up.
Ethan, who has grown a beard, now posts regular photos of himself lifting at the gym, as well as motivational quotes.
He also discusses his ‘journey from obese to svelte’ to muscular on his podcast American Glutton.
